Wondrous Items: Armor Made from Monster Hides (PFRPG) PDF

Now available!

My players are going to love this. There isn't by chance a bulette or troll hide armor is there?

As a matter of fact, troll skin leather is in there!

So are unicorn hide armors, and a kyton chain mail, and many more. Definitely a GREAT addition to treasures, but of course villains might love these armors too. :)

Definitely a GREAT addition to treasures, but of course villains might love these armors too. :)

Anything about adventurer-hide for the bad guys? A nice suit of dwarfhide leather?

Nope, nothing with a PC humanoid race. However, this PDF does detail the making of unicorn hide armor, and as mentioned above, if you can kill a shield archon, it's makes a very shiny suit of full plate.

(Come to the dark side. As Lilith says, we have cookies.)

Nobody nice is going to make unicorn hide armour!

I would if it was roadkill... am I then not nice?

What sort of steed does one have to ride through the forest to generate unicorn roadkill, I wonder?

Maybe a nightmare. Or a bulette? Things to ponder when pondering.

I am glad to hear folk are excited to see monster bits out and about in the world again. I must admit I was somewhat hesitant to include PC races as armor, but perhaps in the follow-up that presents shields and helms, that may be something of the type. I also invite everyone to run with the creation rules included in Wondrous Items Monster Bit Armor and make your own, the story bout HOW a PC got the armor is just as good as the armor itself. Thanks for all of the feed back and keep it coming.

Once I ran a Firbolg/Elf – Druid, who having slain an aurumvorax, had the hide made into armor – Natty!
It would have been great to have this reference book then. - Just sayin'

Did not see anything from the displacer beast in this product. I presumed due to the write-up that there would bee something on this creature's hide.
Hope I didn't miss something when I went through it quick, I will take a better look when I get a chance.

Displacer beasts are intellectual property of Wizards of the Coast, and can't be used by other people.

Mention of the displacer beast should probably be removed from the introduction on page 2, I would then assume.

Very cool, though! Is this the beginning of a new item-related series by Kobold Press?

The kobolds are already on it! :)

And ... Yes! :)

Yes, this will be an occasional series. It's open for submissions via the usual channels.

Helms and Shields are coming soon...

Kyton Chainmail Shirt seems way too good to be true for 500 gold. Am I missing something or is this in line for 500g?
.
.
.
.

Kyton Chainmail Shirt
500 gold
Armor bonus +4
Max dex +5
Armor check penalty –1
Arcane spell failure 20%
Movement 30 ft./20 ft.
weight 20
Special: Deals 1d4+1 dmg verses oppenents who grapple, natural or close attacks.

So, for 500 gold, you no longer have to make a grapple attack, removes the penalty of being a martial weapon, and does damage to attackers making grapple, natural, and close attacks.

Spiked armor
50 gold
Armor bonus: As Armor
Max dex: As Armor
Armor check penalty: As Armor
Arcane spell failure: As Armor
Movement: As Armor
weight: As Armor
Special: Deals 1d4(S) 1d6(M) dmg on a successful grapple attack, counts as a martial weapon.

You could be right, though I'd argue that spiked armor is just completely lame as written.

Since kyton armor can't be bought at an armorer's shop, though, the pricing is less of a limitation than the difficulty of acquiring the materials.

You could be right, though I'd argue that spiked armor is just completely lame as written.

Since kyton armor can't be bought at an armorer's shop, though, the pricing is less of a limitation than the difficulty of acquiring the materials.

Isnt the pricing for the material AND labor? If the 500g is in addition to having the materials, then I could see these being a bit more in line with cost.

Either way, I encountered 3 kytons a few months ago and happened to keep all their chains.

Bear in mind the armors aren't magical and you have to find someone with the proper skill to work the item and typically gather the materials. It's the kind of thing that would be highly specialized in most campaign settings. Unless you to the magic Wall-mart I don;t see it as an issue.

To Sterling Edge

I appreciate your comments regarding the balance and abilities of kyton mail. I can see your point, though I personally do not feel that taking 2-5 dmg back as to OP. This dmg does not go through DR, and only occurs when you are hit, not just when attacked. Also I agree with Frank, these items were not meant to be part of a item wal-mart. They are meant to be prized possessions and working trophies of a characters deeds. As a GM I have been using monster bits for 20+ years, and I have never let a PC buy one in a store in that time. It is not for me to say how to use these items, but I would hope they carry more meaning for players and their characters than simple stats and abilities.

However thanks again for the excellent feedback, it really does make a difference. I personally believe reader feedback is like a whet stone, it makes writers sharper.

Cheers,

Jeffery B. Harris

To Sterling Edge

I appreciate your comments regarding the balance and abilities of kyton mail. I can see your point, though I personally do not feel that taking 2-5 dmg back as to OP. This dmg does not go through DR, and only occurs when you are hit, not just when attacked. Also I agree with Frank, these items were not meant to be part of a item wal-mart. They are meant to be prized possessions and working trophies of a characters deeds. As a GM I have been using monster bits for 20+ years, and I have never let a PC buy one in a store in that time. It is not for me to say how to use these items, but I would hope they carry more meaning for players and their characters than simple stats and abilities.

However thanks again for the excellent feedback, it really does make a difference. I personally believe reader feedback is like a whet stone, it makes writers sharper.

Cheers,

Jeffery B. Harris

My character is the only character in our party that collects trophies (Non monetary) from the enemies we slay, including a lot of skins/hides. I have adorned my armor with a young red dragon skull shoulder plate (No game value), I wear a red mantis assassin sash around my scabbard (No game value). I was trying to think of a way to incorporate the kyton chains into my characters ensemble and I love the idea of the chains being made into armor, you pretty much hit the nail on the head.

I know there are formulas for making magical items, (I dont know them too well), and I wonder if the 500 gold price tag for the Kyton Chainmail is in line with those rules. If it is I will probably be able to talk my GM into letting me make them. If the Magical item creation rules put the chain more in line with 1000 gold, I would still probably do it.

I know that to add a additional magical property to a magical item, the second property is 1.5 times the cost of the new enchantment. But it seems that the Monsterous Hides are not magical enhancements so they would circumvent that rule set adding to their power level.

Like I said, I dont know the magical item creation rules too well, these may fall well in line for them, if they do, then I can see some of my trophies coming into play a bit more.

SterlingEdge,

The monster bit armors (as I call them) do not conform to the standard magic item rules. They are not magical at all per say, they do not detect as magic and were not meant to be compatible with existing magical armors. AKA, I had not intended them to overlap. The creation of monster bit items is a craft based system, and as long as you or another can meet the craft DC of the item (as you already have the chains of a kyton) the armor can be created. The price guides are there to provide a baseline for what one could sell an item for, but do not represent a creation cost per say. The real challenge is meant to be the hunting, slaying, harvesting, and crafting of these unique items. To create a kyton chain mail shirt all that is left now that your PC has a set of chains is a Craft (armorer) skill check DC 30. If your PC does not have sufficient skill, half the challenge is finding someone who does. Otherwise the time required to craft the item conforms to the paizo Craft skill item creation guidelines for non magical armor. Hope that clears up things for you sir. If you have further questions feel free to ask.

Cheers,

Jeffery B. Harris

SterlingEdge,

The monster bit armors (as I call them) do not conform to the standard magic item rules. They are not magical at all per say, they do not detect as magic and were not meant to be compatible with existing magical armors. AKA, I had not intended them to overlap. The creation of monster bit items is a craft based system, and as long as you or another can meet the craft DC of the item (as you already have the chains of a kyton) the armor can be created. The price guides are there to provide a baseline for what one could sell an item for, but do not represent a creation cost per say. The real challenge is meant to be the hunting, slaying, harvesting, and crafting of these unique items. To create a kyton chain mail shirt all that is left now that your PC has a set of chains is a Craft (armorer) skill check DC 30. If your PC does not have sufficient skill, half the challenge is finding someone who does. Otherwise the time required to craft the item conforms to the paizo Craft skill item creation guidelines for non magical armor. Hope that clears up things for you sir. If you have further questions feel free to ask.

Cheers,

Jeffery B. Harris

Thanks for the clarification, I will try to conform the Kyton Chain to the Magical Item Creation rules to gold ratio and run it by my GM and my ranger should be sporting it soon. Thanks for the resposes and the great ideas!

It is my pleasure sir. When it comes to tailoring the items to the magic item pricing rules, I suppose I would suggest trying to match up the abilities of the armor to the closest possible magic armor special ability, if your GM wishes the item to match the current magic armor costs. As always don't hesitate to pass along further questions or comments. Your GM is welcome to do so as well, I feel it is important to support the products I am involved in. And I hope your ranger gets and enjoys that kyton mail, darn good armor for one. There was a rather famous ranger from the Gray Hawk novels (the Justicar) who was fond of saying "if they hit you back, your doing it wrong." Well at least with kyton mail, if they do hit you, your armor gets to hit them back.

Cheers,

Jeffery B. Harris

Good discussion. I think maybe we'll call out the cost discussion in a sidebar in the next installment.

Good discussion. I think maybe we'll call out the cost discussion in a sidebar in the next installment.

Maybe have a cost for the dead monster(1/4), the skinned hide(1/4), and the crafting(1/2).

So the closest thing to the Kyton Chainmail is Mithral Chainmail, so let the math begin.

Mithral Chainmail:1100, Mithral chain has +1 max dex, -10% magic failure, -3 Armor Check, always masterwork.

1100 -100g(1 max dex) -100g(10% magic failure) -100g(Armor check on chain shirt -1), -150 (Not masterwork)=650g

So, without the special ability the Kyton mail has a base price of 650g.

Armor spikes are only 50g, but they only work on 1 attack (standard action) a round. The Kyton mail special ability: Auto hit on attack back vs every (Grapple, Natural, and Close) hit on the wearer. I figure grapple(Medium deal 200g), natural(Medium deal 200g), and close attack(Small deal 100g) (All 3 attacks = big deal 500g).

So Kyton chainmail base 650g+Special ability 500g=1150g(+150 for masterwork)

I figure the cost of the dead monster is 1/4 the 1150g cost, the hide is 1/4 the cost, and the armor crafting is 1/2 the cost. If I kill and survival check the monster, I would have to pay an armor smith 575g to craft the armor (+150 for masterwork=725g).

Maybe Kyton chainmail is like Mithral where they are always masterwork?

1150ish (1300 masterwork) gold for Kyton Chainmail. I would pay 1500g for this, or 750 since I already have the hides.

Maybe someone out there can fine tune my math, disprove it, or flat out correct it. Or maybe it is pretty close.

I would say paying 750 with Kyton chains is a fine idea. If you feel you should give that up to a craftsman that can make that check, or feel it should go to construction costs (special fire tempering stuff, high quality tools, etc) run with it. I wrote the prices just as a guideline should someone want too sell armor, but do as you are moved. The hunt and the harvesting and crafting DC's was more of the challenge IMO, but thats just me.

The second Wondrous Items: Helmets & Shields is now available.

Reviewed first on Endzeitgeist.com, then submitted to Nerdtrek and GMS magazine and posted here, on OBS and d20pfsrd.com's shop.